News

New Bubble Popping Theory Could Help Track Ocean Pollution and Viruses

Bubbles are fun for everyone. But, it turns out, they can also be little menaces. When a bubble pops, it can concentrate and aerosolize any particles stuck on it. Not a big deal when it’s a store-bought soapy bubble bursting in the yard or on your hand. But it’s a major concern when the particles it carries are potentially hazardous: bubbles caught in a crashing wave can send vaporized microplastics into the air where they might mess with the Earth’s atmosphere; bubbles burst by a flushing toilet can fling bacteria meters and onto nearby surfaces; a frothing cruise ship hot tub was once shown to be a Legionnaires’ disease super-spreader. More

Bringing Hope to Ben

On a lifelong mission to help a childhood friend, Tim O’Shea is working on a new way to repair spinal cords By Patrick L. Kennedy Ben Harvey... More

One Drop at a Time: BU iGem Team Brings Home Gold Medal

The annual International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition is a momentous opportunity for engineering students with a passion for synthetic biology to gain valuable hands-on experience and make their big ideas into solid reality. Boston University has sponsored a team for the competition for many years now, with the dedicated support of Professor Douglas Densmore and STEM Pathways. In 2022, the BU Hardware team’s hard work paid off with multiple honors: a gold medal and a nomination for the Best Environment Project. Even more importantly, they fulfilled the mission they began with: to create a novel technology with the potential to make a meaningful impact on society. More

Count Her In: CE Alum Elected to the NAE

Karen Panetta (ENG’85) has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), one of the highest distinctions in engineering “for leadership empowering females in STEM, and for contributions to computer vision and simulation algorithms.” More

The Brain Trust’s Newest Additions

The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering welcomes new faculty members Associate Professor Archana Venkataraman and Assistant Professor Kayhan Batmanhelich. More